Whumptober 2019- Adrenaline
by Frankie McStein
Summary: Magnum insisted he could handle a hike on his own. The ground beneath his feet had other ideas.


Magnum had insisted that he was more than capable of handling a little hike on his own. Rick had outright offered to go with him, but the man was on one of his semi-annual "I must stop asking my friends for favors every day" kicks and set out on his own. Higgins had at least managed to convince him that going without any form of communication was the stupidest thing she had ever heard.

"I'll have my cell on me, Higgy," Magnum had argued, trying to make it sound like he was being very sensible indeed, thank you very much. From the way she had crossed her arms, he was pretty sure he had failed.

"And what happens when you trip over your own feet and get stuck, upside down, in a hole, and need both your hands to keep you from plummeting to your death? How do you intend to make a call?" Her head had tipped to one side as she spoke.

Magnum had looked to T.C. for help, but the bigger man had a grin on his face that clearly said he agreed wholeheartedly with the blonde terror in front of him. Rick had actually been nodding.

"Why would I be stuck upside down?"

"Oh, I don't know. Why would you throw yourself into a crate full of drugs? Why would you destroy a Ferrari with a Unimog? Why would you get kidnapped and stabbed by mercenaries?"

Rick had snorted at the casually reeled-off list. T.C.'s efforts to hide his laughter had led to an odd choking noise. Magnum threw them both a _look_, but Higgins ignored them all.

"Given that you have done all these things and more, why _wouldn't _you get trapped in a situation that robs you of your ability to call for the help you will need?" She'd managed to make it sound like it was an absolute certainty, and Magnum had nearly reconsidered his insistence that he go alone. Nearly. But he was proud and stubborn and, if he was being perfectly honest with himself, he really enjoyed proving Higgins wrong.

He had accepted her offer of a temporary loan of both a shockproof case for his cell and a bluetooth headset and set off. Alone.

If it wouldn't have hurt so damn much, he would have laughed as he surveyed his current situation. The mudslide had carried him down the side of the hill, slammed him up against a tree, then pulled him away from the trunk and rolled him into a rock instead. His legs were stuck, his one arm was pinned and the other was twisted at an awkward angle, his chest felt like a truck had been parked on it overnight… It wasn't a good day.

He was pretty sure his cell, zipped safely in his pocket, was still in one piece; he could feel the case digging into his thigh and it felt intact enough. That meant he just needed to get the earpiece out of his other pocket. Of course, that meant moving his twisted arm. And that was something he didn't really want to do.

_'If you don't do it,'_ he told himself, _'you'll die because you couldn't call for help. You can't let Higgins be right.'_ He grit his teeth and held his breath and shifted his arm, expecting every moment to feel a rush of agony that would tell him it was broken. Instead, he got a constant, but dull, throbbing. It set his teeth on edge and instantly started to eat away at his nerves, but his arm worked. It was moving, slowly and painfully, but it was moving.

Unzipping his pocket was a nightmare. His fingers felt thick and numb, and his coordination had fled. Just gripping the stupid zipper was hard work.

_'C'mon, Magnum. Get your act together.'_ It was his voice, but it was such a Higgins things to say that it made him grin. The zipper slid open, his fingers pressed into the pocket and wrapped around the earpiece, and slowly, slowly, pulled it out.

_'Now you just need to call for help.'_ That wasn't even his voice. He could have tried to lie to himself, tell himself it was his mother, or his eighth grade math teacher, or even Hannah. But the accent was a dead giveaway.

"Call Higgins," he instructed when the chirpy little 'beep' sounded in his ear, speaking as clearly as he could. The ringing that filled his ear was so welcome that he let his eyes slip closed in celebration.

"_Magnum? I was expecting you to call but not for another few hours at least." _Higgins didn't sound particularly concerned, and Magnum felt a little put out by that. Didn't she know he was stuck and injured?

"I'm not upside down." That… well that wasn't what he'd meant to say at all. But he _was_ looking straight up at the sky, and it seemed important to his self esteem that she know that.

_"Magnum?" _There was a tension in her voice now. Oh dear. Had he interrupted something? "_Where are you?"_"

"On the floor."

_"Okay."_ The word was so dragged out it seemed to have extra letters. _"Why are you on the floor?"_

"Because my legs are stuck." He'd always thought of Higgins as quite an intelligent young woman, but she was asking some pretty dumb questions right now.

_"How did your legs get stuck, Thomas?" _Oh wow, that was a tone he didn't think he had heard before. It was soft and concerned, and he wasn't sure why she was talking like that.

"The ground landed on top of me when it fell." He tried to keep things simple, hoping if he explained everything quickly that she would go back to sounding like herself. "But it's okay. I'm not upside down."

There was some background noise coming from somewhere. He tried to force his eyes open and look around, see if maybe someone was nearby. He wondered vaguely if Higgy had managed to find him already. But his eyes refused to listen to him. Higgins was talking again, her voice whispering in his ear. It was a warm, soft sound, and he realized his eyes were probably listening to her. He didn't blame them.

"_We're on our way, Thomas,"_ she was saying, the words feeling like silk, making him hum happily at the sound. "_Just hold on. Can you do that?"_

There was a long silence, and he realized she was probably waiting for him to answer. But she hadn't asked a question. Had she?

"Did you… ask…?" Huh, that was weird. Words were… well they weren't there. Ah, they were in his ear.

"_I have your location on the laptop, Magnum. It's going to take a little while, but we're going to come to you." _That was nice. Those were pretty words. He let them carry him away.

…

"Oh my God." The words were barely a breath. What had once been a hillside with trees and bushes was now a jagged and ugly scar on the landscape. The three of them stared in horror, trying to imagine how Magnum had managed to survive.

"Thomas? Please answer me." The three of them had kept up a steady stream of chatter as they had raced to the location flashing on the laptop screen, but Magnum hadn't answered once and they were all feeling the stress.

"_Hey. You're back."_ Magnum's voice was quiet, but it was there and all three of them took a deep breath at the relief that flooded their bodies.

"I didn't go anywhere, Magnum. That was you." Higgins somehow kept her voice matter-of-fact.

"_Are you here?" _Magnum sounded confused, and Higgins' face went from worried to outright concerned.

"We're all right here, Magnum. We uh, just need to find you." Rick and T.C. were scanning the area in front of them for any sign of their friend. "Where were you when you fell?"

The silence dragged on just long enough for her to think Magnum had passed out again.

"_I was… by the stream."_

Higgins looked to her left where she could see water tumbling down the newly formed landscape, then caught Rick's eye as he shook his head.

"There's no way we can get down there to look for him." Rick kept his voice quiet, hoping Magnum wouldn't be able to hear him. "He's going to have to come to us."

…

His everything was hurting. It was the pain that had woken him up. There was a voice in his ear, and he waved his arm in a vague 'shoo' gesture. The fire that shot through him had his eyes flying open, and his body trying to curl in on itself. He couldn't even cry out; his breath was stuck in his throat somewhere.

He remembered this feeling though. He had become intimately acquainted with it over the worst eighteen months and eleven days of his life. He knew, if he just waited it out, his lungs would remember how to do their job.

Hey, he knew that voice. Higgins. Oh wow, he had tried to shoo Higgy? No wonder his arm hurt so much. Only… no, that wasn't right. He was sure she was perfectly capable of making him regret he had ever been born, but she liked to use sarcasm as a weapon, not actual violence. Not against him, anyway.

Maybe… maybe it wasn't her? It sounded like her. He opened his eyes, confused by the sky that was over his head. Had he fallen asleep on the beach? He was lucky it was Higgy who had found him and not her dogs. But where was she? He could hear her; she was close. Oh that's right! She had been there before. She must have left.

"Hey. You're back." Best to let her know that he was awake, else she might decide to leave him to serve as breakfast for the lads.

"_I didn't go anywhere, Magnum. That was you." _He smiled at her prim and proper tone of voice, the one she used when he was being dumb. He wasn't too sure why her being there was such a relief to him. Wait, where was she? He rolled his head to the side but couldn't see her anywhere.

"Are you here?" he asked, feeling suddenly, awfully alone. Her voice in his ear wasn't the same as her being there with him and… Right! He'd fallen, the world having apparently decided it didn't want him on it anymore. He was stuck. And he'd called for help.

She was saying something else, but he couldn't catch all the words. The last few settled in his mind though.

"_Where were you when you fell?"_

Huh, Higgy with the important questions. Where had he been? Water? Yes, water.

"I was… by the stream." Where was the stream now? He thought he could hear water somewhere, but he couldn't see it.

"_Magnum? Can you still hear me?"_ Oops, she was talking again. Bad move to ignore Higgy; she usually had interesting things to say.

"I'm listening," he assured her, feeling bad for lying- he hadn't been listening at all- but not wanting her to get annoyed and leave. He was starting to feel the pressure on his legs and the pain throbbing through him and had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't going to get out of this without help.

"_Magnum… you need to move."_ Her voice was oddly hesitant, like she knew how impossible it was for him to go anywhere. So why was she asking? Magnum tried to flex his toes and was surprised to find his actually could move his feet. Maybe the issue was his knees? He hoped not; knee issues were finicky things.

"Where?" Wait, what? He wasn't supposed to be asking her where he needed to go. He was supposed to be telling her he couldn't move!

"_The ground is unstable. If we go traipsing around looking for you, we could cause another slide." _Hmm. He wasn't happy about it, but he had to admit she was making a lot of sense. He listened carefully as she told him he needed to go east, that they could come down and get him once he was clear of the unstable area, that she was sorry she had to ask him to do this.

It was the apology that stuck in his mind. The last time she had apologized, he had just been shot by Hannah. And before that, it had been a joke following an insane fight and car crash. That settled it then; if she was apologizing, then something was seriously wrong and moving was his only option.

Okay, he need to take stock of the situation. First things first, free this trapped arm. Should be easy, he just needed to get this branch off it. A quick push and a carefully smothered yell as the splintered wood dragged over his skin, and Magnum had two free arms. They were both hurting, and he wasn't going to be doing push ups anytime soon, but they were free. Which meant he could get to work on his legs.

…

Rick and T.C. had taken off down the hill, moving with agonizing slowness, picking their way carefully, making sure to keep Higgins in sight. Her job was to scan the area for Magnum and to direct the other two men over to him as soon as it was safe. She had wanted to argue with them that she was just as capable of helping him back up to the road as they were, but they also needed someone to focus on keeping Magnum focused. And she was never going to be able to refuse that.

She had conferenced Rick into the ongoing call, in case she wasn't enough to keep Magnum moving, but he'd muted his phone, not wanting Magnum to get distracted by sorting through different voices. It meant all three of them could hear the grunts and small, gasped cries over the phone.

"Magnum?" She wasn't sure if she should go for concerned or confident, so she settled on vague curiosity instead. "Rick and T.C. are heading down now. How's it going?"

"_There's a… a rock."_ Magnum was panting, but he sounded determined. "_Just… need… to shift…" _He trailed off, but a sudden grunt of exertion echoed over the line. For a few seconds after, the only noise was Magnum's rapid breathing. Then some confused sounds, like something dragging over the microphone, crackled over the line.

"_Oh this hurts,"_ Magnum groaned, the very real pain all too apparent in his strained voice.

"You can do this, Thomas." Higgins took every ounce of faith she had in him, every shred of confidence in him and his ability to pull off the impossible, and forced it to ring clearly in every word. "If anyone I know can do this, it's you."

"_I can't… walk… my…" _He sounded so tired, so weak, so not-Magnum, that it made Higgins' stomach clench.

"You don't need to walk," she snapped, the fear coiling in her stomach making her angry. "Crawl if that's all you can do!" She squeezed her eyes closed against the disbelief, shocked with herself for being so harsh. Her mouth opened, ready to spill apologies, but the words died on her lips when Magnum answered.

"_Yes, ma'am."_

Two words. Two, tiny, words. But they meant everything. They meant he was going to fight. Higgins glanced over to Rick and T.C. to see them both flashing a thumbs up her way. She blinked, then a voice in her head chimed in and reminded her that she was dealing with a military man. '_They don't get coddled when they're out in the field.' _She took a deep breath, set her jaw, and, already hating every word, brought the phone closer to her mouth.

"Just get moving, soldier. Now's not the time for skiving off." She wasn't even sure 'skiving' was a word he would recognise, but she seemed to get the point across. She could hear the sounds of stones shifting and the occasional cracking of twigs.

As the minutes dragged on, the sounds of Magnum's progress were slowly drowned out by the sound of his breath. Ragged, breathless panting filled the air.

"Get the lead out, Magnum," she snapped, biting her lip at his wordless moan of pain that met her words. She was squinting in the sunset, thinking she had seen movement but not wanting to send Rick and T.C. racing off until she was positive, afraid she would accidently send them away from Magnum.

"_I can't."_ His voice was hoarse, choking out the words, struggling for air past the pain and exhaustion. "_I… sorry… can't."_

"Forty percent." She snarled the words, feeling a jolt of adrenaline surge through her as she realised she was genuinely terrified for Magnum. She used that adrenaline and terror as energy to stiffen her own backbone and force the words out. "Isn't that how it goes with you SEALs? When you think you're finished, when your body and mind are screaming at you that it's over, you're only actually forty percent done. That means you still have sixty percent left to give, and, so help me, soldier, you are going to give it! Now get up off your arse and move!"

Every word hurt her. She wanted to comfort him, to assure him that he wasn't alone, that they were so close. But she saw it again, the movement she had noticed before, and yelled through the phone line to Rick and T.C., waving them over to their right.

She watched in silence as they ran as fast as they dared over to the bushes, saw the moment they spotted the figure she had seen shifting. Going by what they muttered, the words they whispered in soothing tones, Magnum was still trying to move, legs kicking as he tried to keep crawling.

The fear abated, the adrenaline suddenly switched off, and, as Rick and T.C. reassured Magnum that it was over now, that he could stop now, Higgins let her legs give out under her. As Magnum was being carefully lifted off the ground by his friends, Higgins dropped to the tarmac, her hands shaking and her head feeling light.

She could hear sirens getting closer, the ambulance T.C. had called for before he and Rick had headed off down the hill finally on its way. That meant EMTs and medical supplies, which meant Magnum was going to be fine. She told herself that over and over, chanting it like a mantra, until she felt her body pull itself back together.

When the three men reached the top of the hill, Rick and T.C. supporting an unconscious Magnum between them, Higgins was back on her feet and giving the ambulance crew a quick update on their patient. He was going to be fine, and so she was fine too.


End file.
